Country 102.5

[Oxford_Street_Shuffle]

I thought I'd change up topics seeing as there's a lot of Severin talk etc. etc.

I spent a decent amount of time listening to 102.5 this weekend... and I have to admit - I don't get it. I'm a country fan, don't get me wrong. And I can appreciate a great country station... but this isn't one.

I listened for a few hours at a time on different days. Every time I listened... I just didn't hear the hits! I heard some recurrents, and some gold songs that I can't imagine test well! But where's the Kenny, the Keith, the Carrie?

And the jocks... blah blah blah. Talking about absolutely nothing. On Sunday I heard a jock do a break out of a song, then read a liner about an event, then do the weather, read a weather sponsor... and then into a promo!!!! How does that happen? And with Boston being a PPM market that's suicide!

I know 12+ they do marginal at best, but at what point does Greater Media figure out that something is wrong and make a change? Country can work in Boston. It does well in other markets nearby... Albany, Hartford, Providence etc. I'm sure 102.5 could do well if it had the proper direction and was actually playing the right music.

Thoughts?

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Country has been tried many times in the Boston area over the years.
Yea, it has an audience - EVERYTHING has an audience - but it is not
really widespread. This market, seemingly, will only support one country
station. Even then, it is made up of crossover stuff - half country/half pop.
(call it whatever you like...) I am willing to bet that you will almost never hear
what many would call "classic country" around these parts...

Even the student population who comes to Boston for college - most seem
to be from nearby states - not exactly the expatriates who would be the
built-in audience for country, (of any variety) as a format...

 

[Power Of Radio]

Some stations open up the playlist on weekends. There will be stations on Memorial Day that will do stuff like 'Top 500' etc..
A to Z and so on. You will, more than likely, here stuff that doesn't get played Monday-Friday. I'm sure WKLB tests song.
As far as when they did last. Only the powers that be. In the building know.

 

[Deleted User]

They must be doing something right they are ahead of some of the "name" stations on Boston in the 6+ PPM's
http://www.radio-info.com/site/markets/grid/boston

Boston has never been a traditional country format area

BTW I heard Mauzzy Stafford former weekender at WODS and Metro Traffic chick/WODS Morning show sidekick doing a shift over there Sunday

 

[TravisWMLN]

i actually think wklb does it right...play the currents and golds with minimal stretches on deep cuts...boston isn't known for country music but the station runs a lot like a top 40...the audience is younger than you might think (go to a kenny chesney concert...best time all summer) but it also has a lot of female audience and i think they hit their target demo's perfectly...most of their dj's are pretty good too ( I think jw may be the most underrated in Boston, funny ass dude)....cat country in providence however is not my cup of tea

 

[Don Juan]

I spent a decent amount of time listening to 102.5 this weekend... and I have to admit - I don't get it. I'm a country fan, don't get me wrong. And I can appreciate a great country station... but this isn't one.

I listened for a few hours at a time on different days. Every time I listened... I just didn't hear the hits! I heard some recurrents, and some gold songs that I can't imagine test well! But where's the Kenny, the Keith, the Carrie?

I'm not a Country music authority, but I don't know just how much listening you did.

Going back to Saturday I checked mediabase and found that in the 6AM to 6PM period for that one day, they played Kenny 7 times.....Keith 13 times (thats more than 1 per hour.).....and Carrie 3 x's.

Sounds like they're playing them to me!

 

[JustinT]

One thing I have noticed, as a country music fan, is that WKLB will often avoid playing songs with rather "rural" topics in the lyrics, no matter how addictive the melody may be. A few I've noticed (unless I'm not listening enough) are:

The Lost Trailers - "Holler Back"
Craig Morgan - "Redneck Yacht Club"
Craig Morgan - "International Harvester"
Crossin Dixon - "I Love My Old Bird Dog" (smaller act but received airplay on WOKQ)

I don't know whether other country stations in urban areas like Boston do the same, and I realize most people - myself included - cannot relate to the themes, but it's annoying to miss out on some of these songs while the station jumps on the latest Taylor Swift single that can be barely called country.

 

[TravisWMLN]

One thing I have noticed, as a country music fan, is that WKLB will often avoid playing songs with rather "rural" topics in the lyrics, no matter how addictive the melody may be. A few I've noticed (unless I'm not listening enough) are:

The Lost Trailers - "Holler Back"
Craig Morgan - "Redneck Yacht Club"
Craig Morgan - "International Harvester"
Crossin Dixon - "I Love My Old Bird Dog" (smaller act but received airplay on WOKQ)

I don't know whether other country stations in urban areas like Boston do the same, and I realize most people - myself included - cannot relate to the themes, but it's annoying to miss out on some of these songs while the station jumps on the latest Taylor Swift single that can be barely called country.

out of those 4 "holler back" gets played the most i'd say...i wouldn't say it's due to regionalism more or less just playing what seems ot be working

 

[Oxford_Street_Shuffle]

Don Juan... I went back and counted durring the exact same time that you did. They played Keith Urban 6 times... not 13 as you reported. You must've been counting Toby Keith too.

And to only place Carrie Underwood 3 times in a 12 hour period on a Saturday is my point! She's a smash hit country artist. They should be banging the crap out of those songs. They seem to be playing a mix of really new stuff that is unfamiliar and really strange 90s country gold.

Neal McCoy - "The Shake"?
Joe Diffie - "Pickup Man"?
Lee Roy Parnell - "What Kind of Fool..."?

Come on - you can't tell me those test in Boston. There's no way. It just doesn't look right to me. And VERY male based. There were times when I saw 8 or 9 male records in a row.

 

[JIBGUY]

Any country station that pulling nearly a 5 in Boston is doing it right. Period.

 

[Don Juan]

Don Juan... I went back and counted durring the exact same time that you did. They played Keith Urban 6 times... not 13 as you reported. You must've been counting Toby Keith too.

Possibly. But that's still one every other hour. What are you suggesting? One Keith Urban every hour...?